


A Farewell That Came All Too Soon

by Oleander_Lights



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Cancer, Childhood Memories, Crying, Death, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Guilt, Hospitals, Memories, Mild Language, Parent Death, mentions of bullying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:49:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27512599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oleander_Lights/pseuds/Oleander_Lights
Summary: Parents weren’t supposed to die until you were all grown up.  And children weren’t supposed to go before their parents. But life wasn’t exactly fair now was it? Nia knew that, but it didn’t make the news any easier to stomach.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 22





	A Farewell That Came All Too Soon

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Dear True Love by Sleeping at Last.
> 
> I saw the line “I’m a farewell that came all too soon,” and thought of this.
> 
> However this was also inspired by the following songs as well  
> Saturn by Sleeping At Last  
> You Can Let Go Now Daddy by Crystal Shawanda  
> Helena by My Chemical Romance
> 
> And as always you can make fanart of any scene in my Fics just send it to me on my Instagram at Peculiarpancakes or tag me in the post

**“No one ever told me that grief**

**felt so much like fear,”  
-**

**C.S. Lewis**

Parents weren’t supposed to die until you were all grown up. And children weren’t supposed to go before their parents. But life wasn’t exactly fair now was it? Nia knew that, but it didn’t make the news any easier to stomach.

_ Her father was never a serious man, so the second Nia had seen his face she knew immediately something was horribly wrong.  _

_ “I have cancer, Nia. It’s progressed too far for them to cure,” Peony said in a grim voice, “I have six months at most left,”. _

_ Nia felt as though she had crashed into a ton of bricks when her father said that. No, no! This wasn’t real! This was just some sick joke her father was playing on her! It had to be! It just had to! _

_ “Nia darlin’, Papa’s sorry. I promise I’ll stay as strong as I can for you,” her father sounded choked like he had tears that threatened to spill at any moment. _

_ Nia just threw her arms around her father and started to bawl. She didn’t know what else to do other than scream and cry. _

_ They had just returned from the tundra and Nia expected their lives to return to normal, now they never would be normal again. The rebellious teenage daughter quickly became a dutiful caregiver to her now ailing father.  _

She’d lost her mum, and now she was losing her dad _too_.

Her father had grown so weak in the months since his diagnosis. The man who was once so loud and full of energy and life now laid in a hospital bed. Thin, weak, and barely able to keep his eyes open. He didn’t talk anymore either, and if he did, his voice was quiet and raspy, barely even a whisper.

The room itself was barren and gray. Devoid of color as though to match the grim reality of the father and daughter.

The telly played, the only source of sound besides the beeps of the machines which kept Peony alive. 

Nia would have been crying, had she not already cried herself dry previously. It broke her heart, seeing her father wasting away in that hospital bed.

And if Nia were to be brutally honest then she blamed herself. She blamed herself for not spending more time with him, blamed herself for being so embarrassed by him, blamed herself for trying to avoid him, and blamed herself for being (in her eyes) a spoiled and ungrateful brat.

“If you had been better none of this would have ever happened and dad would still be healthy,” Nia silently scolded herself as the machines beeped away steadily, “But instead you were a spoiled and ungrateful little brat and now you’re paying the ultimate price for that,”.

Nia swallowed hard as she desperately tried to bury that thought, the grief counselor had told her that even though she didn’t cause her father to get sick, such thoughts were common. Though the grief counselor had told her she didn’t cause any of this, it still did nothing to keep those thoughts from infecting her young mind like an incurable virus. 

_ “Dad?” Nia had asked her father one morning before was admitted to the hospital. It had been a lovely autumn day, the kind that was her father’s favorite. The kind where the leaves that fell from the trees came in all different shades of red, orange, yellow, and brown. The kind where the rising sun cast the morning into a peachy glow underneath its brilliant red and orange light. _

_ “Yes, my darlin’ daughter?” Peony asked as he slowly sat up on the couch, he had just started to get weaker, the muscle had begun to fade away from his arms. _

_ Nia sat down at the foot of the couch, she was in the Yamper pajamas that her father had bought her (that she never would have been caught dead in before despite them being a birthday present), “Do you blame me for you getting sick at all?”. _

_ Peony pulled his daughter close to him in a hug after those words left her mouth, even his hugs felt different now, almost as a way to comfort her, “Never think that, not now and not ever. You didn’t cause this, it just- happened. Sometimes things just happen Nia and I know that’s not the most comforting thing to tell you right now but it’s all I can think of. That sometimes things just happen,”. _

_ “Okay,” Nia choked a little, she tried not to cry in front of her dad, she told herself had to be strong for him, “I love you,”. _

“Miss Joshi,” 

Nia looked up at the voice which had called her out of her memory. A nurse with a black ponytail and pink scrubs stood in the doorway, she wore a worrying look on her face as she clutched the clipboard in her hands.

“I come out to the hall, I need to talk to you,” her voice was soft and quiet with a hint of sadness.

Nia stood and followed the nurse out into the hall. 

The hall would have been silent had it not been for the air vent which produced a quiet sound as it blew freezing air out into the hall. The tile floors didn’t help the hallways’ freezing temperature either, if anything, they made it worse.

“What did you need Miss-,” Nia paused for a moment as she looked for a name tag, “Jane,”.

There was a pregnant pause and Nia felt her heart drop into her stomach. She knew immediately what Nurse Jane had called her out into the hallway for. 

“Your father, he’s fading fast,” the nurse explained to Nia as though she had done something like this a hundred times over (which Nia guessed she had), “He hung on longer than any of us thought he would and we suspect it’s because of you. So perhaps, tell him something to make his last few moments with you special. Tell him your favorite memory of something you two did together and tell him it’s okay to let go. He won’t respond but it will make it easier on him,”.

“I’m not sure if I can do that,” Nia looked over her shoulder into her fathers’ room, the sound from the telly now distant, she couldn’t even understand what was being said on it now, “What if I can’t think of the right things to say?”

Jane nodded solemnly, “Then hold his hand, sing to him, give him a hug. It will help him feel more at peace with what is to come,”.

“Do you think he-?” Nia began to ask before she quieted. 

Jane politely answered, “Knows he’s near-death? I think he does, at least on some level he does. Most people know if they’re going to survive or not. Now, are you ready to go back to the room, Miss Joshi?”.

Nia felt the bottom of her lip quiver but she still nodded. She could feel the tears in her eyes but pushed them back.

She stepped into the doorway of her father’s hospital room. His eyes were shut now, he didn’t look near death, he looked as though he was merely asleep.

Nia crawled into her father’s hospital bed, careful to avoid all the tubs and wires going into him. She laid her head on his bony chest as she tried desperately not to cry. 

“Dad?” Nia swallowed hard, “Remember the time we went to Alola when I was five and you and I built sandcastles together on the beach? Remember just how happy we were and just how much fun we had together?”.

The beeps from the machines broke the silence before Nia continued with her story.

“You bought me ice cream after we were done and when we got back to the hotel we watched that silly movie about the two Cufants in the jungle? You loved it, and so did I. Even if it was so silly and the voices were unbearably squeaky and annoying at times,” Nia gave a pained laugh as she remembered the voice she found insufferable at times, “I remember all the time you would mimic those voices just to make me laugh after I had scraped my knee or hurt myself. And all the times you would do it to get on my nerves when I got older, and honestly, part of me did still laugh when you did that,”.

Memories of her with her father went by in a flash in her mind. Her first day of nursery school, her first day of primary school, their trip to Alola, catching her Tyrunt with her dad, her in his arms at her mother’s funeral, the time she dyed her hair bright green, her first school dance (Peony had chaperoned), her first day of Year Ten, the trip to the tundra, him telling her that he had cancer……..

Nia choked again, “Dad? Remember my first day of nursery school? And how I cried and begged you not to go because I was so terrified of you leaving? I guess that’s sort of like right now, except now you’re gonna be leaving forever. But I’ll be okay, I promise. Maybe not right away and maybe not for a long time, but I promise I’ll be okay,”.

The tears stung in her green eyes, they threatened to fall at any second now. She didn’t know if she started that she’d ever be able to stop again or if she would cry forever.

More memories flashed through her brain. Getting ice cream on a Summer’s day, riding a bike without training wheels for the first time, swinging on a swing set while her dad pushed her, parents day in Year Two where she’d gotten to tell her entire class about her dad, the day in Year Eight where a group of girls told her she was weird for being so close with her dad, her pushing her father away, and the day she slapped Libby at school over what she had said about her dad.

_ She had just started Year Ten two months prior. She had expected this time to be filled with parties and friends. Not taking care of her slowly dying father. _

_ It happened in the hallway, right as she was heading to her biology class. _

_ “Hey, Nia want to head out later tonight?” her “friend” Libby asked from behind, “Tara will be there!”. _

_ Nia froze up, shit, “No, sorry. I have to stay home tonight. My dad needs me to be there,”. _

_ She could feel Libby’s frown from behind her, “Can’t you ask your dad to let you go? I’m sure whatever stupid thing he has planned for you two to do could wait,”. _

_ “He has cancer, you jackass! That’s why I need to be at home!” Nia wanted to shout at Libby. _

_ “I mean, it’s not stupid,” Nia said in a quiet voice instead, “Besides he’s been planning this for weeks. It would break his heart if I-,”. _

_ “No offense but your dad is a wanker. Don’t you just wish he would just drop dead sometimes?” Libby said as the girls entered the bathroom. _

_ Nia felt as though she had been struck across the face, she felt the anger bubble in her chest, “What did you just say?”. _

_ Libby turned to face the blonde, “Arceus Nia chill the fuck out! It’s just a joke,”. _

_ “No, repeat what you said. I’d very much like to catch what you said this time,” Nia said through gritted teeth. _

_ Whispers rippled around the bathroom. Nia had never felt so furious in her life. Her fists were clenched so tight she thought she might shatter the bones in her hands. _

_ “What are you gonna do? Cry to daddy like the little baby you are? Have him kiss your boo-boo all better? Or are you gonna throw a temper tantrum and have daddy come to fix it when you get a detention for busting my face in?” _

_ Then came a loud crack of skin against skin. Nia’s hand burned from the force at which it hit Libby’s face, “My dad has cancer you fuck! That’s why I need to be at home! Because I don't know how much time I have left with him and because he needs my help! Oh, and before I go Libby Ann Williams. Just know that our “friendship” was over the second you asked if I wished he were dead!”. _

Her heart felt like a ball of cement in her chest.

She remembered the nights she heard her father quietly cry in pain as he grew weaker, the days he couldn’t eat without getting sick, being held back by paramedics as her father was loaded into the ambulance, the endless days and nights in this hospital that began to blend together, the buzz of the telly always set to Pokémon battles (her father’s favorite).

“Dad?” Nia began, tears were spilling from her eyes, “Dad, it’s okay to let go. I’ll be okay, just like I was when you picked me up from my first day of nursery school. I know that some days will be hard, especially in the beginning. But I’ll be okay, I promise. Or as you used to say ultra-mega promise,”.

“Daddy,” hot, fat tears fell down Nia’s face, “I love you,”.

The line went flat.


End file.
